In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the so-called "Endangerment Finding." This defined a suite of six long-lived greenhouse gases as "air pollution." Such air pollution was anticipated to represent a danger to the health and welfare of current and future generations. Thus, the EPA has the authority to regulate these gases under the rules of the U.S. Clean Air Act. Duffy et al. provide a comprehensive review of the scientific evidence gathered in the years since then. These findings further support and strengthen the basis of the Endangerment Finding. Thus, a compelling case has been made even more compelling with an enormous body of additional data. The Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate air pollutants when the EPA Administrator finds that they "cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." In Massachusetts v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) under the Clean Air Act and that the EPA may not refuse to regulate once it has made a finding of endangerment. In December 2009, the EPA released its "Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act," known informally as the Endangerment Finding (EF). The EF found that six long-lived GHGs, in combination, should be defined as "air pollution" under the Clean Air Act and may reasonably be anticipated to endanger the health and welfare of current and future generations. The EF is an essential element of the legal basis for regulating GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act. It provides foundational support for important aspects of U.S. climate policy, including vehicle mileage standards for cars and light trucks and the emissions standards for electricity generation known as the "Clean Power Plan." The EF was rooted in careful evaluation of observed and projected effects of GHGs, with assessments from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the U.S. National Research Council providing primary evidence. The EF was clear that, although many aspects of climate change were still uncertain, the evidence available in 2009 was strong.

Next week in Washington, DC, the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, the publisher of Science) will celebrate science and explore many daunting global challenges. The meeting's theme--Science Transcending Boundaries--considers how science can bring together people, ideas, and solutions from across real and artificial borders, disciplines, sectors, ideologies, and traditions. The scientific community must evolve to meet new realities if it is to continue its path of growth and progress and address the world's most pressing problems. The benefits of science and technology cannot be dismissed. They are embedded in our daily lives and undergird the solutions to everything from poverty to disease; sustainable food, water, and energy; climate change; and national and international security.

Digital twin technology has moved beyond manufacturing and into the merging worlds of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and data analytics. As more complex "things" become connected with the ability to produce data, having a digital equivalent gives data scientists and other IT professionals the ability to optimize deployments for peak efficiency and create other what-if scenarios. A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical object or system. The technology behind digital twins has expanded to include large items such as buildings, factories and even cities, and some have said people and processes can have digital twins, expanding the concept even further. The idea first arose at NASA: full-scale mockups of early space capsules, used on the ground to mirror and diagnose problems in orbit, eventually gave way to fully digital simulations.

The European Space Agency will name its new Exomars rover Rosalind Franklin, after the DNA pioneer, it has announced. The lander will arrive on the red planet in 2021, as part of a pioneering mission to explore the surface. "The prominent scientist behind the discovery of the structure of DNA will leave her symbolic footprint on Mars in 2021," the team behind the mission said in its announcement. When it arrives, the ExoMars rover will hunt for evidence of past life on Mars. It will drill into the surface and examine the soil in hope of finding traces that could have been left by alien life that might once have been there.

Facial recognition technology significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to identify people or objects in photos and video. This makes it a powerful tool for business purposes, but just as importantly, for law enforcement and government agencies to catch criminals, prevent crime, and find missing people. We've already seen the technology used to prevent human trafficking, reunite missing children with their parents, improve the physical security of a facility by automating access, and moderate offensive and illegal imagery posted online for removal. Our communities are safer and better equipped to help in emergencies when we have the latest technology, including facial recognition technology, in our toolkit. In recent months, concerns have been raised about how facial recognition could be used to discriminate and violate civil rights.

The need for greater gender and ethnic in diversity in technology is growing from a whisper a decade ago to the roar of a world cup football goal. We can no longer ignore the injustice of a male-dominated algorithmic trade, a despicable parade of inequity and inequality. The naysayers who call out about the discrimination against white males, need to look at the facts of what Joy Boulamwini calls the coded gaze and the increases in algorithmic bias. True, having greater gender and ethnic diversity won't solve all the problems of unfairness, but it will bleed its greatest excesses. Potential imbalances are less likely to go unnoticed.

On the one hand there is a service provided to users free of charge,

Tech giant Huawei's president has denied the firm has any links to Chinese spying operations. In a letter to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, the firm's president Ryan Ding insisted the firm was not involved with such practices. But a 2012 US House Intelligence Committee report outlined Huawei's links to the Chinese state, has since been picked up by other western governments, including Australia, Germany and the UK. FBI Director Christopher Wray has also suggested that the company's smartphones could be used to "maliciously modify or steal information." But Mr Ding insisted that Huawei had never and would never assist any country in gathering intelligence on other countries.

Artificial intelligence as a topic has long been a mix of both fascination and fantasy, the realm of both computer science and Hollywood movies. As AI and related sub-disciplines such as machine learning become a reality in our everyday lives, that fascination grows. Now, though, we're increasingly focused on how AI will actually impact us, from its applications in enterprise IT to much broader effects on jobs and the global economy, healthcare, government, and more. A recent string of TED Talks speak to this shift from the speculative to the practical: How will humans and omnipresent AI actually coexist? What benefits will AI bring, now and later?

Experts and politicians in China are worried that a rush to integrate artificial intelligence into weapons and military equipment could accidentally lead to war between nations. According to a new report published by US national security think tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Chinese officials increasingly see an "arms race" dynamic in AI as a threat to global peace. As countries scramble to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence in various domains, including the military, the fear is that international norms shaping how countries communicate will become outdated, leading to confusion and potential conflict. "The specific scenario described to me [by one anonymous Chinese official] is unintentional escalation related to the use of a drone," Gregory C. Allen, an adjunct senior fellow at CNAS and author of the new report, tells The Verge. As Allen explains, the operation of drones both large and small has become increasingly automated in recent years.